While shots are still firing in the war of online news credibility: bloggers vs. mainstream (see SEO Book for the latest blog-side salvo), a new service from Pluck.com wants to help old-school news organizations bring bloggers into the fold. Techcrunch got the first look at BlogBurst (already in live beta), which “takes topical content from pre-approved blogs and provides it to publishers (online newspapers, etc.) for republication.”
BlogBurst already has an impressive roster of heavy-hitting (re-)publishers signed on, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post and the Houston Chronicle. The papers would pay BlogBurst to compile selected blog content according to timeliness and relevance, then feed it to designated sections of publishers’ sites; in lieu of revenue-sharing (at least for now), re-published bloggers would enjoy byline attribution and linkbacks from sites using their stuff, as well as “The opportunity to take your blog to the next level” – whatever that means. Even without pay, the resulting traffic increase and recognition could be its own reward for many bloggers (although blogs carrying advertisements are out of luck, for the moment).
For interested bloggers, applying looks like a pretty simple operation. Sign up with BlogBurst,
then return to the business of citizen journalism while the service vets your blog’s worthiness. This page gets more specific about what they’re looking for: blogs offering RSS or Atom feeds, weekly (or more frequent) updates, “distinct, intelligent writing,” and clean-cut subject matter – remember, these are family papers, here. BlogBurst also seeks substance that falls neatly into a handful of “hot topics,” with others up for future consideration (so the what-I-had-for-breakfast crowd will have to keep its fingers crossed):
- Travel
- women’s issues
- Technology & Gadgets
- Food & Entertainment
- Local Metros
Bloggers, naturally, seem pretty jazzed about BlogBurst. Search Engine Journal thinks that great blog content will provide a fresh alternative for newspapers faced with staffing shortages and glutted with wire stories and press releases. We agree; if BlogBurst doesn’t go BlogBust (and proves to be a hit with major publishers), bloggers might start seeing each other in the offline papers before long – that is, as long as paper lasts.
